World/Red Shadow

He was in the middle of a long central market street in the middle of the city he was in. It had a Classical feel to it, with every stall buzzing with customers and items. The sun was shining brightly over Max and the clouds were gently wavering.

The people seemed to wear all sorts of fashion, and the natural hair colours he was used to in his previous world seem to not apply here; people had all sorts of hair colours ranging from White to Purple. Although one distinguishing thing between himself and the rest of the world was his hair and his clothes.

The clothes were far less sophisticated, and all looked as expected for a post-middle-aged Europe. The hair of all the human males were at best shoulder length, but Max's hair went down to his elbows. He also wore an oversized white hoodie with tight blue jeans. On him was a beautiful watch that Mark had bought for him several months ago for his birthday, probably his most expensive piece of fashion which he was always grateful for. Other than that, he only had a phone and £20 in his pockets, which he already expected, would be useless for him in this alternate world.

But what the fuck happened, before I got here?

The image of the dead body was burnt into his mind. No matter where he looked, he could see the body. He knew exactly who it belonged too as well. It was a beat up, bloodied body, with an arm chopped off. There were stab wounds everywhere. The thing was more holes than corpse. It was a disgusting thing, that spread across Max's world like a disease.

It was Mark's sister.

Information. That's what I need.

He walked through the bazaar, seeing weird jewellery, foreign fruits, majestic blades and the list goes on.

He stopped at a stand that seemingly sold books and asked "what is this?" to the woman at the stand.

The woman wore dark clothes, with a brown robe around her. She looked like a witch, without the hats.

"Oh dear, the ones on the right are for combat, the left are for healing and support. They were written by McLie himself! I promise they are the best books you can find!"

"McLie? Are these magic?"

McLie was a fairly western name, and the way she spoke of him, made him out to be a special wizard or magician.

"-of course, my, my, were you looking for reading books by any chance?"

"Hm…" Max looked at the signs to see that they were in a foreign language. He wasn't fascinated by Linguistics, but this feels like a mix of Hebrew and Greek… I think. "Uhm sorry, I happen to be a foreigner, and I am not well versed with the language, oh and I'm absolutely broke. Do you know if I can get a job?"

The face of the Lady grew more and more aggressive, the more he looked at her. And her voice, which sounded kind and familiar suddenly turned hostile and distant.

"If you happen to not be Perlopian, please leave, from this shop, the city, and the country."

"Wait… Perlopian? Is that the name of the country?"

"GUARDS, I'VE ENCOUNTERED A SPY." The lady screamed at the top of her lungs. Max panicked at began to run, only to hear a shout behind him, and then his left leg immobile. So this is fucking magic?

He ran towards a bridge, that fathered a large river below it, and relied on the things around him, to hold on to, in order to walk.

He continued to struggle, until he was far away from the shop, and had reached an alleyway. The alleyway which might've seemed suspicious, felt like a safe haven. He also felt the lock on his leg slowly removed. Does that magic work by distance or by time? How curious.

Perlopia. McLee. Calla. Magic.

A seemingly nationalistic population that looked down on the poor and foreign, truly, how curious.

While sitting on the stairs to some house, he decided to look at his phone. As expected, it had high battery, but no connection. It still worked and he could probably play games to pass time, but unless he could find electricity to connect it to, it would die eventually.

Kinda like me.

"Yo, I heard sommit about a spy and stuff. Was that you?" A strange voice, to his right, said.

"-"

He looked to his side, to find the Perlopian equivalent of an Emo, facing him. He was a boy probably younger than Max, with golden hair, a small scar on his lips, and clothes that belonged to the stereotypical thief in Isekais; Short red t-shirt, a black short sleeved shirt on top of it, and black chinos.

Max opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.

"y'know, a lot o' people call me a spy an' all that too. I'm really not'n'stuff it's just my parents brought me here before the wars'n'shit."

"Huh… I'm not a spy either, I just accidentally ended up here."

"Can you read?"

"Oh no…"

"Oh damn, I gotta get this letter to a gal called Marionette, but I can't read the address. She's a noble or whate'er, do you got any idea?"

"Don't nobles live outside big cities like this?"

"I'on know, but I'm…" He stopped to consider his words "…people don't like speakin' to me an' all that."

"A girl named Marionette, huh? I'll help you out if you want, but by any chance do you know a Calla?"

"Wha' the fuck!? Wher' 'n the fuckin' worl' did that come from!?"

"You do!?"

"Ya don't!?"

"huh?"

"Wait, y'seriously a totally blind foreigner? C'mon even abroad they talk about Calla, don't 'ey?"

"I swear, I don't know who Calla i-"

"-My, my. Two wonderful men speaking of Marionette and Calla? How fantastic!"

A voice he had never heard before, interrupted their conversation.

"And a letter for the lady, as well? Oh truly how fascinating!"

It was a woman, above the alleyway, standing steadily on the rooftops. She wore all red and black checkered clothes and her hands danced with two daggers, both juggling dangerously.

"Holy fuckin' mother o' god, what the fuck…" The boy next to Max spoke first. "Ya fuckin' Red Shadow innit?"

Red shadow… a name?

"Pleased to make myself your last memory. I am Anna the killer." She smiled maliciously. "I have no idea how the name Red Shadow caught on, after all, I have murdered every person who has seen me, but I have a bittersweet relationship with it, after all doesn't a name like Red shadow sounds slightly childish? The type of thing you would call yourself when you were younger and believed you were still special? I personally find it to be embarrassing, but if I have been awarded such a name by the masses, that must certainly mean that people do find me extraordinary and special! Now that does truly make me happy, hence why I have such a love-hate relationship with that name. Anyways, please name yourselves so that you may be remembered as something in my diary."

Wow, she really said all that in one breath, impressive.

"M'name's Ruyie. That's R, u, y, i, e. An' I'm the second in command o' the Black Knights an' all that. O' and for reference, I'on plan on dying 'ere." The boy next to him had formally introduced himself to both of them, Ruyie.

"I am Max Spaur…?"

Compared to the first two, he honestly felt half arsed, even if he was scared to death, of dying.

"I see… how fascinating indeed. An illiterate child-rogue, sending a peace treaty to his enemy, and an illiterate child who can't give a proper introduction. My, my. HOW FASCINATING!"

Anne, or the Red Shadow, jumped down at least twelve feet, to be on the same battlefield as the two.

"Oi Max, got any cool moves to show me?"

"Magic?"

"Preferably."

"No, also I'm horrible at fighting."

"Shit and Shit. Alright."

They eyed Anna up, while talking between themselves. She seemed to clearly not view them as any threat, and waited for them to finish.

"Are you two done? Food certainly tastes bad when left out in the cold."

"Y'know before I die an' shit, lemme just say…"

"?"

"…AL SHAM!"

Then a sight that Max had never seen before, appeared. A large fireball appeared from seemingly nothing, and blasted its way towards Anna.

"Sham break!" Anna roared back.

The fireball dissipated into nothingness.

"Ah shit. Ughh… SHAM-SHIR"

The second spell suddenly made a small red sword appear in Ruyie's hands. He seemed to hold on to it extremely tight, and the weapon seemed to be trying to be freed. He dashed at her, as she held tightly onto her daggers. Ruyie's blade aimed towards Anna's neck, but with one sword, she deflected the sword away from her, with the second, she blitzed it towards Ruyie's stomach.

Then in a move that surprised Anna and Max, he jumped on her thighs, and used it to blast back away from her.

"You truly do deserve the title of a subordinate within the Black Knights, oh how fascinating."

"I guess ya ain't too bad to be called Red Shadow'r whatever either.

Anna looked extremely pleased, while the shock of nearly dying had stunned Ruyie.

"You, Mr Spaur, would you please allow me to end your life?"

Huh!?

Max moved back, and looked for security through eye contact with Ruyie.

"Ya' gotta fight me b'fore you fight 'im, ya' hear me?"

"Very well, I'll walk over your dead body, if that is your desire." She then proceeded to whisper a spell, while pointing at Ruyie. In her eyes, was a sense of malice, a look of death that Max had never seen before.

"FUCK!" Ruyie fell on the floor, he had his hand on his heart as he fell on the ground. It's not over, I can still run outside. I can still live. What?

She, Anna, had somehow cornered Max into a wall. Oh no what the fuck, what the hell, no, no, NO!

"A curious thing is it not? I prefer not to use abilities like that, but sometimes, it really makes everything better. Should I share a secret with you? He would've killed me, had I not done that. Even if he was afraid, he was far stronger than me, if I only used my weapons. It truly is fascinating how I, a murderer, was born with little compatibility with generic magic. When I was younger, I was often bullied for it, but in those days, most magical books were kept for the wealthy and powerful. When the war started, all the secret archives that held those abilities, those forgotten or unspoken scriptures, went into my hands. Well not my hands, but in my job, things like that get to you somehow. It was the first time I was every able to hold my own in magic. To be able to stop an enemy on their feet, isn't that what everyone desires? What's more, the abilities were drawn to me, and I was able to draw out their strengths. Truly fascinating, how the world works as such. Is it not?"

One breath again.

"Well, Mr Spaur. Max Spaur. You have kindly refrained from speaking, in my long monologues. You truly have been a good victim of mine. Now please…"

No, don't, fuck off don't.

She drew out her dagger, and placed in right above Max's stomach. She then put her other hand on top of it, and pushed it down into his body.

"…Accept this blade of mine. Accept your death."

"No."

Her face, which had been gracefully, suddenly changed. It now looked at Max with Hate. In the corner of his eyes he could see Ruyie, who had died for him. He really had no reason to do such a thing, he could've run away, but he didn't.

The blade, inside of his stomach, felt like it was drenched in Alcohol, as it slowly ate his insides. He felt the bones on his spine spasming uncontrollably. The violent movement of his nerves made his brain feel like it was frying on fire.

"I won't die until I find Calla."

I won't die until I find Mark. I won't die until this shit and that shit.

I won't die.